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trap out question

I just got a call from a guy that witnessed a swarm yesterday flying towards his home then setteling on the chimny, now today the bee's seemed to have found a way in a small quater sized hole in the mortar. If i placed a bee escape over the hole and put a bait box with pheremone and a couple of frames of drawn comb in it would it be too late to expect the queen to come out with the rest of em? or do i just cut my loses and atleast retrieve the bee's that i can? also. about how long would it take to trap out most of the bee's? The guy's really into saving what bee's he can but cant have em settling there due to the fire hazard. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as ive not done a trap out yet.

trap

trap outs take 8 weeks or more if tey build comb in the chimmy there will always be a big fire hazard from the wax . if its a new swarm, my advice to the homeowner,sadly, would be wasp spray followed by sevin . just my opinion,your milage may vary-but please consder carefully the liability issues here. good luck,mike

"Wine is a constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy" Ben Franklin

smoke-um out

If the bees moved in yesterday it's probably not to late to smoke them out. If possible, put a bait hive with drawn comb, maybe some brood over the hole. A bee escape is not needed - it would slow down the bees too much and be a problem for the queen or drones. You may need to block (or mostly block) the top of the chimney in order to fill it with smoke.

Can you see the bee cluster by looking up or down through the chimney? If so, a bee-vac would probably work as well.

If the swarm has just taken up occupancy then the quicker the escape is installed the better. I'm just now seeing the most recent post - if the bees are in the brick or house structure then I'd look to trap them but if they are in the chimney then "db" has a better suggestion.

My thinking is that a swarm can only build up so fast and if you get the cone escape on there quickly then the trap-out time can be as short as 30 days. This is what I'm experiencing now on a trap-out in a building with brick veneer. We set the escape about 3 days after the swarm went in (26 April) and I'm going to take away the bait hive and close the entrance today (28 May) as there has been no observed traffic out of the cone for 4 days.

There are some other threads on trap-outs here on the forum that you might search for and read.

I've encountered the this situation & found that if they have not drawn comb, my best results were to get a hive body and/or nuc in front of the entrance, with the frames well coated with sugar water and one frame with a drop of lemon grass extract on it. Then get some Bee Quick or Bee Go and blow it in from the backside, and below the colony (as much as possible)in the structure. We even used a plastic pipe and a hair dryer to push the scent into the colony. Smoke may make the queen run around rather than leave. If you want to get real fancy, cover the space between the hive body and structure opening with a dark piece of cloth-that will ease queenies nerves about going back outdoors. WJPowers

The$bee.
I just had the same thing happen here and we got the bees out.
I dropped an Apilife Var into the cavity (bad smell) and had them blast a sterio against the inside wall constantly (except at night when the family was sleeping) and we banged on the wall like crazy to make them uncomfortable - on the second day they left around 9:30 am with the encouragement of a little smoke.
This is the posting from the homeowner: http://www.woodenboat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=80141

You can do it, just give it a good try and think about what the bees want to do.
Bother them all day and night and hopefully the next morning they will take off - that is when the swarm is going to want to move - around 9:30 or 10 am.

No, I did not. I said the answers you were getting were ridiculous, so I was trying to help you without causing a confrontation on the board. Maybe you need to read a little better.

Below is a copy/paste of my PM to you. I think it was very friendly and helpful, not a bit rude or hostile. I have disagreed with the fellow posters about trap outs enough that I did not want to start another argument with them.

>>>>The suggestions on your thread are so ridiculous I won't even try to answer there. If you can get the trap set today or tomorrow, the queen and all the bees will be out within 3 to 4 days, maybe within 24 hours. They have nothing in there to eat, and will abscond quickly. You may not get them in the bait hive, or you may, but they will come out. Do it as soon as possible, before they have time to bring in stores.